“What is this, famous man day in the Queen City?” one of the other nurses asked.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m famous,” he said.
“I would,” Maurice said. “If you’re looking for property, I should put you in touch with my brother.”
Solomon smiled as he saw Kandace’s Lexus pull up. “You know what. Let me give you my card and we’ll set a meeting up. I think expanding in Charlotte is a great idea.”
Kandace hopped out of the car and shook her head as she watched Solomon hand Maurice a business card. “Now, this is scary,” she said.
“What’s up, Kandace?” Maurice said, then gave her a quick brotherly hug.
“What are you two plotting?” she asked as she took Solomon’s hand in hers. The three nurses sucked their teeth and walked away.
“I should’ve known Solomon Crawford was waiting on a woman,” one of them said.
“You two know each other?” Maurice asked. Solomon remembered that Jade was married to Maurice’s brother.
“Yes,” she said. “But you still didn’t answer my question.”
“Just talking about some possible land deals,” Solomon said. “Maurice, it was nice meeting you and good luck next Sunday.”
“Next Sunday?” he asked. “We have a game this Sunday.”
“I know. McNabb’s my man, I can’t go against him,” Solomon said.
It was about three P.M. when Carmen arrived at the Behavioral Health Center. She looked at the doctor asking her questions about her mental state, but she didn’t say a word at first. I know what they want me to say, what they want me to do, and I’m not going to play this game right now. Then again, she thought as she looked at the baby-faced doctor, I know just what to do.
“Chelsea, we can sit here and say nothing, but I really want to help you,” Dr. Hovis Clarke said.
“Please don’t call me that. My name is Carmen,” she said in a soft voice.
“Why don’t you want to be called by your given name?” Dr. Clarke asked as he scribbled in his notepad.
Carmen sighed and bit the inside of her lip until tears sprang into her eyes. “No one loved Chelsea,” she said once she stopped biting her lip.
“What’s the difference between Chelsea and Carmen?” he asked.
Please, you have got to be kidding me, she thought as she stared at him with a blank look on her face. What does he want to hear? What is going to get this man out of my face? She dropped her head in her hands and pretended to hyperventilate.
Dr. Clarke dropped his pen and rushed to her side. “Carmen, are you all right?”
She made her body go still, and Dr. Clarke called for a nurse and a doctor on his cell phone. In her mind, Carmen was wearing a huge grin because she hadn’t expected things to work this well.
Poor Dr. Clarke, she lamented. Apparently young and not very bright. North Carolina must be desperate for doctors.
The nurse and the doctor rushed into the room and checked Carmen’s vital signs.
“She’s unresponsive,” the nurse said as she shone a penlight in Carmen’s eyes. “What should we do, Doctor?”
Carmen began to pretend she was having a spasm, hoping to spur the doctor into action.
“Call for transport to CMC,” the medical doctor said. “Clarke, you’re going to have to ride with her and let the staff know what she’s in here for.”
“All right.”
Within seconds, Carmen felt herself being secured on a gurney. She tuned out the conversation the paramedics were having as they loaded her in the ambulance.
As the paramedics hooked her up to machines and tested her blood sugar and took her blood pressure reading, Carmen prayed they wouldn’t figure out that she was faking everything and send her back to her padded room.
“This is weird,” one of the paramedics said. “Everything is checking out as if its normal.”
“Doc, what were you two doing when she crashed?” the other paramedic asked.
“Just talking. It’s possible that she has a psychosomatic condition,” he said. “But just to be safe, I want her to be examined thoroughly.”
And, Dr. Clarke, if you don’t get in my way, you might survive, she thought as she felt the ambulance stop.
Kandace watched Solomon typing on his laptop while she was supposed to be typing a press release about Alicia’s business seminar. He looked so focused as he worked. Every now and then he’d grunt and start typing faster. One thing she could say about her man was he was intense when he worked. My man, she thought. I can’t believe this. Never would I have imagined that I was going to have a date for Thanksgiving dinner.
“Damn,” he muttered, then picked up his cell phone and made a call. While Solomon talked to his New York office, Kandace finished the press release and e-mailed it to Alicia for her to approve. Two weeks ago, she would’ve moved on to her next project and buried herself in more work, but right now, all she wanted to do was bury herself underneath Solomon.
The door to her office swung open and Jade walked in with Jaden in her arms. “Kandace, I’m glad you’re still here,” she said. “I know I was supposed to be here for this dinner party tonight, but Jaden has a fever. Can you please stay here until Serena comes at eight?”
Jaden whined in his mother’s arms. “We sure can,” Solomon said as he hung up the phone and walked over to Jade. He placed his hand on the little boy’s forehead. “You get him out of here and don’t worry about this place.”
“I was wrong about you,” Jade said. “And I’m glad.”
“Call me and let me know how my godson is doing,” Kandace said as Jade rushed out the door. When Jade was gone, she turned to Solomon with a wide smile on her face.
“What?” he asked.
“That was so sweet of you,” she said. “I was planning on taking you home and rubbing your shoulder.”
Solomon closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around Kandace. “Had I known that, your friend would’ve had to stay here with the sick baby,” he joked.
Kandace pinched his cheek. “Such a liar. I saw how concerned you looked when Jaden started crying. I guess Solomon Crawford isn’t the big bad wolf he wants all of New York to believe he is.”
“Shh, woman. If someone hears that, I’m going to have to try and tear down a playground or something to rebuild my image.”
Kandace gently kissed his lips, then said, “You wouldn’t dare.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” he said. “I got a soft spot in my heart for kids.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Really?”
“Yes. One day, I hope that I have a few kids of my own,” he said, revealing a thought he’d never shared with another woman.
“You’re showing me a side of you I never thought I’d see,” Kandace said. “Where was this guy in Sugar Mountain?”
“Oh please, had you met him, you would’ve succeeded in trying to ignore me,” he said, then squeezed her bottom. “Is your chef here?”
“I’m sure he is,” she said. “But all I have to do is sit in this office in case a problem arises.”
Solomon let her go and walked over to the door and locked it. “Is that so?”
“Umm,” she said as she began unbuttoning her blouse. “You must be reading my mind because I was wondering when you were going to get around to locking that door.”
She shrugged out of her blouse, revealing a leopard print bustier. Solomon expelled an appreciative breath. “Lovely.”
Kandace unzipped her skirt and revealed a black garter belt holding up her sheer black thigh-highs. “Damn,” he said as he walked over to her and held her hands above her head as he drank in her stunning image. He ran his hand down her chest, down to her shapely hips, and pulled her against his throbbing body. Just the sight of her made him hot and hard with desire. “I want you so bad right now,” he said.
Kandace pushed him backward onto the small sofa where she had slept many nights after spending more than twelve hours at the restaurant.
With Solomon
in the seated position, he opened his arms to her. Kandace sauntered over to him with a smile and planted herself on his lap. “You know,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist, “I’ve never done this before.”
“Well, I’m so glad I’m the one to break your office cherry,” he said as he felt himself hardening against her thighs.
“So am I,” she said as she reached down and unbuckled his belt, then unzipped his pants. Kandace slipped her hands inside his boxer briefs and massaged his hardness until she felt the first drops of his desire pooling.
“Mmm,” he moaned as she continued to stroke him back and forth. She lowered herself onto his erection and Solomon was enveloped in her warm wetness. Kandace threw her head back as Solomon gripped her hips and drove deeper into her, reveling in her heat and her wetness. Kandace moaned in pleasure as she ground against him. Solomon’s mouth found its way to her chest. He pushed her bustier down, exposing her perky breasts, and sucked and licked her nipples until her body vibrated with desire. She tightened herself around him and brought him to the brink as she rode him like a prized steed. Just as Kandace reached her climax and Solomon exploded, there was a knock on the office door.
“Oh my goodness,” Kandace whispered.
“Kandace, are you in there?” Devon called out.
“Shit,” Solomon exclaimed.
“Ah, just a minute,” Kandace said as she scrambled to put her clothes on. “What’s wrong, Devon?”
“I had something I wanted you to taste. Is everything all right in there?”
Solomon zipped up Kandace’s skirt, then adjusted his pants and opened the door.
“We’re good,” Solomon said, offering a sly smile to Devon.
“I didn’t know you were busy,” Devon said when he walked in and placed a tray of food on her desk. “This is a new dish I was thinking about putting on the menu.”
“Oh,” Kandace said.
“You two enjoy it,” Devon said dejectedly, then walked out of the office.
Kandace looked down at her poorly buttoned shirt and slapped Solomon on his chest. “You could’ve told me about my shirt,” she said.
Solomon rubbed his chest. “I didn’t even notice,” he lied. “Food smells good.”
“You’re dirty, Solomon,” she said. “You might as well broadcast what we were doing.”
“I think you already did,” he said as he pointed to a bright red passion mark on her chest.
“My goodness,” she said as she rebuttoned her shirt. “This is going to look real nice when I’m acting as hostess tonight.”
Solomon took a plate of food and started eating the jasmine rice and beef tips. “I was minding my business and you took off your clothes and got in my lap. This is actually good.”
Kandace laughed and took a bite of the food. “It is good,” she said.
About an hour later, Kandace and Solomon were out front seating a group of veteran Carolina Panthers players into a private dining room.
When Maurice spotted Solomon, he laughed and said, “What’s the McNabb fan doing here?”
Rumbles rippled though the crowd of football players. Many of the things they said would’ve made the rowdy crowd at Lincoln Financial Field blush. Solomon fanned them off as he helped Kandace hand out the menus.
“All right,” Kandace said. “You can’t blame the man for being on the wrong side. He’s from New York. But if you could keep it down so that you don’t get a bunch of fans and groupies back here.”
“Hey,” Walter Homer, a defensive lineman said. “The only dude trying to stay away from groupies is Mo. See some fine ones with an ass like yours, send them back here.”
Kandace stepped in front of Solomon when she saw his fist close and his jaw clinch in anger. “Just walk away,” she said.
“Who is that fat…”
Kandace placed her hand over Solomon’s mouth, then ushered him out of the dining area.
Once they were out of earshot of the players, Solomon swore. “How often do you have to deal with that?” he asked.
“First of all, you’re overreacting. Homer is harmless and he flirts with everybody,” Kandace said.
“That was disrespectful,” Solomon said.
Kandace shrugged her shoulder. “It means nothing because,” she said as she grabbed his hand and placed it on her bottom, “this is all yours.”
“I like the sound of that,” Solomon said. “Just tell me that you don’t have to go back out there.”
“No, I don’t.” She leaned in and kissed him on his chin. “You know we only put up with them because Maurice is Jade’s brother-in-law and those guys are good for our bottom line.”
“Seems like some of them are worried about your bottom line.”
“Solomon,” she said in an exasperated tone, “green doesn’t look good on you.”
“Whatever.”
Carmen opened her eyes after she was wheeled into a room at Carolina’s Medical Center. Dr. Clarke was sitting in a chair near the door drifting in and out of sleep. She checked her wrists and was a bit surprised that she hadn’t been shackled to the bed. She had an IV in her arm, but no heart monitor this time. Quietly, she pulled the IV out of her arm, then she slipped out of the bed, stretching her arms above her head. Pretending to be in and out of consciousness for the last five hours had been taxing on her, but she had a mission and she wasn’t going to stop until she completed it. She pulled one of the tubes from the IV machine and crept over to Dr. Clarke, who was sleeping soundly now.
“Sorry about this, Doc,” she whispered. “I thought I could spare you, but you’re in the way.” Carmen wrapped the thin tube around his neck and choked him before he had a chance to scream for help. She continued to squeeze until she felt the life slip from his body. Satisfied that the doctor was dead, she dragged his lifeless body into the bathroom. She stripped his clothes off, hoping that she would be able to wear them. When she put the pants on they were about three sizes too big and the shirt was ill-fitting around her shoulders, but she knew she needed them until she could get a pair of scrubs to get her out of the hospital.
Once she got outside, Carmen figured she could find her way back to Kandace’s restaurant and then she would make the bitch suffer. She reached in the doctor’s pocket and saw that the man had about eighty dollars in cash on him. That would be enough to get her around if she needed a taxi or to hop on the bus.
She turned to the doctor’s dead body and shook her head. “Thanks for the cash, Doc. You know, you asked me why I didn’t want to be called Chelsea and I guess it’s because Chelsea was a weak, poor excuse of a woman who allowed people to walk all over her. Chelsea died when I lit that fire. She was worthless just like my mother and that man she thought was more important than her own child. Carmen is a woman of action, but you already know that.” She smiled coldly and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Carmen crept to the room door and opened it just a bit, seeing that the halls were clear. The nurse’s station was at the other end of the corridor near the elevators. Since it was so quiet on the floor and no nurses roamed the halls, Carmen was able to walk down the hall and find a utility closet. She smiled as she saw green scrubs folded on the shelf. She closed the door behind her, stripped out of the doctor’s clothes, and pulled on a pair of scrubs. She grabbed a pair of paper shoe covers and put them on her feet.
When Carmen walked out of the closet, she saw a nurse walking in to what had been her room. She tore off toward the elevator. As she pressed the down button, she heard a bloodcurdling scream and the two nurses at the nurse’s station took off down the hall without giving her a second look. Once she stepped on the elevator, Carmen knew that she was going to get away without a problem.
CHAPTER 28
Kandace shook her head as Solomon, Homer, and Maurice sat at the restaurant’s bar laughing and drinking rum and colas. She found it hard to believe that less than three hours ago, Solomon wanted to bash Homer’s fat hea
d in. Though she was happy the men were getting along, she was ready to close up shop. I am going to kill Alicia, she thought. Her friend never showed up and when Kandace had called her to find out what was going on, the only excuse Alicia had given was that something had come up.
“All right, guys, unless you want to pay the bartender and the sous chef overtime, get out,” Kandace said as she leaned on Solomon’s good shoulder.
Maurice looked down at his watch. “Damn, it’s later than I thought. Kenya is going to kill me.”
“Don’t you think you need to call a cab?” Kandace suggested. “I don’t think you’re going to play on Sunday if you get arrested tonight for DUI.”
Maurice pointed at Solomon and laughed. “You were trying to set me up so McNabb would win, huh?”
“I don’t need to do that. I’ve seen what your quarterback has been doing this season. I’ll call a car for you two and make sure everyone gets home safely with no charges,” Solomon said.
“Babe, you’re not in New York. I’ll call Crown Cab.”
“I can drive home,” Homer said as he struggled to stand up. Maurice grabbed his keys from his hand.
“I know you’re stupid, but I didn’t know you were a damned fool,” Maurice said. “We’ll take that cab.”
Kandace picked up the phone from behind the bar and called the cab. Solomon followed her behind the bar and wrapped his arms around her waist after she hung up with the taxi company. “Those guys are pretty cool,” he said.
“It wasn’t always like that, but that’s a story for another day,” she said. “I’m going to tell Raymond he can take off. Once their taxi gets here, we can go.”
“Do we have to wait out here with them? I can’t get my mind off that sofa in your office,” he whispered in her ear.
Kandace turned around and stole a quick kiss from him. “Tell me about it,” she said.
“Ugh,” Homer exclaimed. “Is it something in the water around here? And if so, where’s my cup?”
Kandace glanced at Homer over her shoulder. “What are you muttering about?”
“Why don’t you hook me up with your friend? You know, the loud one.” Homer said. “Then I can be as sickening as you two and Mo and Kenya and James and Jade.”
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